Him or Us
by smgg
Summary: After Him, Buffy and Dawn have a talk about RJ.


"HIM OR US" by Ikepear 

A story set just after "Him."

Dawn Summers burst through the front door of 1630 Revello Drive with a crash and a bang like Buffy roaring through the door of Spike's crypt or a special teams guy busting the wedge on a kickoff. Buffy bit back the first sentence on her tongue ("You live here too, Dawn. Try not to tear it down.").

"How was school?" Willow asked, and Buffy raised her eyebrows inquisitively, silently hitching a ride on Willow's choice of an opener.

Dawn snorted, "Like you care," and glared at Buffy, the picture of furious indignation, but her lip trembled and she ran up the stairs two at a time, slamming the door to her room. The pictures on the living room wall vibrated with the impact.

"Dawn's still a little cranky about the whole RJ thing," Willow said.

Buffy snorted, and Willow chewed on the grin that tried to form. "Gee, you think." Buffy shook her head, and went on, "No, a little cranky is actually a pretty sweet day in the Dawnverse and a big improvement over the usual cloudy to partly cloudy followed by intermittent sulks and thunderstorms with hail the size of minivans."

"OK, Dawn's still really pissed about RJ. What are you gonna do?"

"I'm so desperate, Will, I'm considering honesty—not always the best policy on the Hellmouth, or when dealing with a 15-year old. Or when you're me." Buffy sighed. "It's not just that she's mad. She's really unhappy too, and I'm afraid she doesn't trust me. Sooo…Here I go to face the fierce Dawn-thing in its unnatural habitat."

Willow smiled. "Good luck."

Buffy hesitated at Dawn's door. She squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. Then she knocked twice and entered without waiting for an answer.

Dawn was huddled on the bed, an abject heap of teenaged misery that tugged at Buffy's heart and stung her eyes. "Go away," she hissed fiercely.

"Dawn…"

"Are you planning to steal my room, too, now? I can just leave. There must be a park bench with my name on it somewhere. And my clothes, maybe I have some clothes you want—if you're not too SHORT to wear them."

"I'm sorry about RJ, Dawn. I know it was wrong, and you have to believe I would NEVER do something like that if I was in my right mind. You're my sister, my only family, and I love you. You're way more important to me than any guy, I promise you."

Buffy sat on the bed and smiled at Dawn, with a little lip trembling of her own. "Please don't be mad at me." Dawn scrunched over close to the other side of the bed, but she looked up at Buffy.

"You know it was just the magic, right? Not really hot here for bag boys and high school jocks—didn't have much use for 'em when I was IN high school. Did I ever tell you about the time I…"

"Broke the captain of the swim team's nose 'cause he groped you in his car, yeah, yeah, oh heck yes."

"TRIED to grope me."

Dawn sighed and leaned back. "I knew it was hopeless, anyway--the lure of the older woman, you know, all that…experience."

"Well not really THAT MUCH experience. I…Sorry, Dawnie, go on."

"More experience than me." Dawn gave a mild mini-glare.

"God, I hope so."

Dawn giggled and tried to stifle it. "Guys always want you, anyway. Nobody ever notices me. They treat me like a kid."

"Which guys? Where are they and why don't I know about them?" When Dawn smiled at that, Buffy eased slowly onto more dangerous ground. "Not that long ago you WERE pretty much a kid, Dawn, and most of my friends, most of the guys who prefer me, are used to thinking of you that way, although that mating dance you did with RJ at the Bronze may've scuttled that." Dawn looks up again, interested. "Yeah, Xander and Will were ogling like a couple of frat boys at a kegger till they saw it was you."

Dawn smirked. "Yay? Ew? Yeah, but come on. Guys like what you've got. I mean the boys at school—even the ones who think you're my mom—are always going on about your hotness, your big eyes, your big lips, your…ass. God! 'Shutup about my sister's ass,' I say, 'It's gross.'" Buffy raised one eyebrow and Dawn giggled. "The ass talk, I mean not your actual ass. And you know some guys LIKE girls who can beat 'em up. I'll mention no spiky names. All that hotness is hard to live up to, even if you weren't superchick."

Buffy batted her eyes and drawled "I declare Miss Dawn you do flatter a girl so." She sighed, tossed her hair, gave a little shimmy/wiggle, then stuck her butt out and looked admiringly at it.

"Is it hot in here or is it just me?"

Buffy touched her butt with one finger, made a hissing steam heat sound, then shook her head while saying: "Ooh, I guess it is just me….Hey, don't you think I wish I could have those big blue eyes and those long legs? You've been taller than me since you were like 13."

"Oh at least since I was 12. You don't set the bar on tall very high—probably because you couldn't reach it if you did." Dawn giggled. Buffy pretended to be mad.

"What I'd like to know is when those monks made you out of me, how come things worked so much better the second time? If nothing else, I think I've got at least 3 or 4 inches coming to me."

Dawn looked pleased, then frowned."About the mouth, the lips—mine I mean. Umm….

"What?"

"It's not, like, grotesque? I mean it's pretty huge?"

"Let me guess. One of the girls said something catty?"

"Julie said I should go to the party as a clown because with this mouth I had a real head-start."

"Julie is a jealous bitch, and we don't like her. She knows a lethal weapon when she sees one and she's trying to make you insecure about it."

Dawn beamed. "Lethal weapon?"

"Killer."

"Well uh, that's good…Umm…"

"Let me guess again. One of the boys said something—of the tacky variety."

"Well, Joey said all the guys get a hard-on every time I smile. I didn't know whether to cry, or hit him, or what. I think I just blushed, sneered at him and flounced off."

"Sneering and flouncing, good choices. How 'bout telling him your sister is a superfreak who'll rip his ears off and feed 'em to him. That works for me." Buffy stroked Dawn's hair. "You know I love you, right? No guy is going to come between me and my sister."

"Let's not get mushy here. I'll have to disavow you totally as soon as I meet a guy I really like who isn't wearing possessed sportswear." Dawn paused, and her expression grew very serious. "I believe you. About the magic. But this is the Hellmouth. Magic can happen any time."

"No magic can make me forget my not so little sister for very long—not even when I want to." Buffy grinned.

"Only my supreme annoyingness and unrivalled whining can accomplish that," Dawn said with mock solemnity.

"We're in perfect agreement," Buffy nodded.

After an exchange of hugs and affectionate ritual insults, Buffy went back downstairs.

"So," Willow asked, "things are good? Yes?"

"Things are good. There is peace between the kingdom of Buffy and the land of Dawn." Buffy smiled. "Until next time."

THE END


End file.
